New rules would seek more senior-friendly homes in Alameda

When Warmington Homes put the most recent phase of its Grand Marina housing development in Alameda up for sale, Audrey Lord-Hausman and her husband, Richard, stopped by to take a look. The couple lives in a split-level home and Lord-Hausman, who has difficulty walking after multiple knee surgeries, anticipates that someday, they’ll need to move.

The homes were nicely built, Lord-Hausman recalled, and had a view of the water. But like many of the new developments being built or proposed here on the Island, all the homes were two to three stories tall.

“While they’re very well built, they’re not accessible,” Lord-Hausman said.

The experience moved Lord-Hausman, who chairs Alameda’s Commission on Disability Issues, to initiate an effort to create new rules requiring developers to make at least some of the new homes they build accessible to people whose mobility is hampered by age and disability.